Dear MARGINS Community,
At the beginning of month the MARGINS Program segues into GeoPRISMS, and after four years I step down as Chair of the MARGINS Steering Committee. It has been a very busy, productive term, seeing major synthesis activities, the Decadal Review, and also the successful writing of a Draft Science Plan for GeoPRISMS. All this would have not been possible without herculean efforts on behalf of the staff of the MARGINS Office, first at Boston University (Cary Kandel and Pamela Lezaeta) and then at Lamont after a rapid move (Niva Ranjeet, Andrew Goodwillie, Karen Benedetto and Kristen Woodford). It has been a pleasure to work with them, and I am tremendously appreciative of their efforts. Also, the success of the program, its scientific accomplishment, and the strong case made for a successor would not have been possible without tremendous support from the MARGINS community, and the efforts of the many members of the Steering Committee, various meeting organizers and writers, and the continued sage advice from the staff of the National Science Foundation. Thanks to all of you for making this a highly rewarding and successful four years. Finally, I would like to thank and wish well Julia Morgan, who is now Chair of the inaugural GeoPRISMS Steering and Oversight Committee, and is managing the first GeoPRISMS Office at Rice. The transition should be fairly straightforward; beginning in the next few days this Listserv will be migrated to Rice, and a new GeoPRISMS web page will go public. The Lamont staff will continue through the Fall to support MARGINS/GeoPRISMS activities, ramping down gradually as Rice staff start, and we expect by the end of the calendar year to have completely transferred responsibilities away from Lamont. Best of luck to those leading GeoPRISMS now; the program is in great shape and excellent hands.
Sincerely, Geoff Abers Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University